Grandpa's Garden

 

Grandpa in his garden in the early spring

My Grandpa ALW, (my Daddy's dad) always had a wonderful garden right in the eastern part of his front yard.  Though it was smaller than our large family garden that was located in front of the barn between our house and Grandpa's house, it was always well weeded, watered and produced an abundance of peas, beans, beets, carrots, turnips, onions, cabbage and other vegetables for Grandma and Grandpa's  own use and to share with friends and relatives.  The growing season in our mountain valley isn't very long, so crops like tomatoes and corn and squash usually didn't quite mature before the first frosts came.  All of the cousins have fond memories of raiding the pea patch for a fresh and nutritious snack. Grandpa  also had a beautiful border of orange daylilies, a row of delicate sweet peas, and a huge yellow rose between the pumphouse and the driveway.

 During his last years after Grandma was gone, when I was a teenager, he still kept up the garden.   I'm pretty sure my Daddy helped out a lot plowing or tilling it up in the spring, but the garden gave him purpose and exercise, and others still benefited from his generous gifts of produce. 

I don't really remember much about my Grandpa VW's garden ( my Mom's dad), though I know had one most of his life.  My Mom has talked and written memories of helping in the garden, and most families who had the space in those days did keep a vegetable garden during the depression and World War II years.  My memories of Grandpa VW's yard are of the luscious fruit trees!  Peaches and Cherries and probably pears and berries were in the back orchard behind the house.  I remember going for a visit in the summer time to pick and  bring home a bushel or two of cherries for bottling, and in the fall Grandpa would usually bring us a bushel or more of peaches.   What a treat, as our cooler valley only produced the apples and plums and strawberries.  We always had plenty of bottled fruit in the cellar.

I'm grateful that I have always had a spot to plant a garden and berries and sometimes even fruit trees in every home that we have lived in during our nearly forty years of marriage.  It is a lot of work, I will not lie, but gardening brings me a lot of joy, even in the years when it doesn't produce as well as I would like.  This year I've already planted peas, potatoes, spinach, lettuce and 5 brand new raspberry plants, and the apricot tree is already in bloom.  Spring gardens make me happy!  The old homestead with both my parent's home and my grandma and grandpa's home is now sold and the buildings are all gone, but I am lucky enough to have salvaged a few of my favorite plants that are now growing in my own yard . . . some of my mom's spring daffodils, and my grandpa's yellow roses and orange daylilies. 

Did you parents or grandparents have gardens or orchards?   

Do you grow a garden?

Grandpa's yellow rose bush

The old homestead circa 1955